You are perfectly right in enjoying the gay season of
life. When time advances, we must be content to look on the world through
“the loopholes of retirement,” as Cowper says. The delicate state of my health
has, in a great degree, banished me from society; but I am not the less
sensible to its charms, and do not yet despair, if it should please God, of
enjoying them again.

Lady Worthington is an old friend, for whom I have

314

LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR.

the highest regard. I beg you may remember me to her in
the kindest manner. She is not only lovely in her person, but has a most
amiable disposition, and an elegant mind. Cherish her as a friend.

Poor Mrs. Tighe!
Still, however, I am not without hopes of her perfect recovery. Of Lady Moira’s illness I heard last
Wednesday, with the deepest concern. I have since heard, with infinite
pleasure, that she is recovering. Heaven, I trust, will yet spare her many
years to her friends. I have no friend whose dissolution I should more deeply
deplore.

I am rejoiced to find that you have another work in
contemplation. From you more than common success will be expected. Your name
(to use, perhaps, a vulgarism), is up; and I have no doubt that your future
productions will raise it still higher. As you visited a part of the country
where society is, in some degree, in a primitive state, you will, of course, be
minute with regard to customs and manners. You should also give all the
traditions that prevail, particularly those relating to the heroes and heroines
of the metrical tales of the Irish, some of whom, it is said, may be traced to
oriental tales. It is not improbable but you may have heard stories similar to
some of those which you have read in the Arabian Nights Entertainments. Keep
these hints in your mind when you are reflecting upon the days you spent on the
shores of the “Steep Atlantic” Allow me further to observe, that
you should look over the Irish historians (Keating, O’Hilloran, Leland, &c.), for such remarkable events as may have occurred
in any of the scenes

A NEW FRIEND AND A BROTHER-IN-LAW

315

which you mean to describe. By
relating, or referring to such events, you will give a stronger interest to
your work. But, above all, do not neglect to describe particularly, all the
ancient buildings (either houses or castles), and the gardens. You will thus
render your work historic in regard to the early state of architecture and
gardening in Ireland. You will, I am sure, excuse the liberty I am taking with
you, as I write en ami.

I have not seen any of the criticisms on your publication
in the Freeman’s Journal. Permit me, as a friend, to
recommend it to you not to disregard the critics. If they should point out any
faults (for no human work is perfect), silently correct them in a second
edition. Adieu, dear madam. Make my best compliments to your father, and
believe (in haste),

Your obliged and obedient servant,

J. C. W.

I think you should look over the antiquity papers on
the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. Any of the members could get
you access to the library, where you might pass two or three hours with
pleasure and advantage.

It is not, I am sure, necessary to recommend it to
you to avoid all political reflections in your tour.

William Cowper (1731-1800)
English poet, author of Olney Hymns (1779), John
Gilpin (1782), and The Task (1785); Cowper's delicate
mental health attracted as much sympathy from romantic readers as his letters, edited by
William Hayley, did admiration.

George Ellis (1753-1815)
English antiquary and critic, editor of Specimens of Early English
Poets (1790), friend of Walter Scott.

Geoffrey Keating (1580 c.-1644 c.)
Roman Catholic priest whose history of Ireland circulated in manuscript before being
translated into English and published in 1723.

Thomas Leland (1722-1785)
Irish historian, author of The History of Philip, King of Macedon
(1758) and History of Ireland from the invasion of Henry II
(1773).

Sylvester O'Halloran (1728-1807)
Limerick surgeon and antiquary; he published a General History of
Ireland (1778).

Elizabeth Rawdon, countess of Moira [née Hastings] (1731-1808)
The daughter of the ninth earl of Huntingdon and his third wife, the evangelical Selina
Hastings; in 1752 she married Sir John Rawdon, afterwards earl of Moira; she patronized
Thomas Percy and his Irish literary circle.

Mary Tighe [née Blachford] (1772-1810)
Irish poet, the daughter of William Blachford; in 1793 she married Henry Tighe
(1768-1836); following her death from consumption her poem Psyche
obtained great renown.

The Arabian Nights. (1705-08 English trans.). Also known as The Thousand and One Nights. Antoine Galland's
French translation was published 1704-17, from which the original English versions were
taken.